The Boy and The Mechanic
by Firestark5757
Summary: Tony gets an unexpected visit from an old freind, Harley. The Billionaire doesn't understand til the name Salvin comes in. Aperantly the man he had blasted through the stomach didn't stay dead. Now it's up to the Avenger to protect the two things he's cares about, Pepper and Harley. But Tony might just learn that protecting the ones you love is harder than you think.
1. The Unexpected Visit

**JUST FINISHED MY FIRST CHAPTER THAT I HOPE I CAN MAKE INTO A SERISE! I WAS LOOKING AROUND FOR A GOOD HARLEY AND TONY FAN FIC AND COULDN'T FIND MUCH, WANTING BADLY TO WRITE MY OWN I DID! IF YOU LIKE AND WANT ME TO CONTINUE PLZ PUT IN A REVEIW! THIS IS SET AFTER IRONMAN 3, THE ONLY THING I CHANGED WAS THAT TONY STILL HAS HIS ARC REACTOR. I THINK GETTING RID OF IT WAS A MISTAKE AND IM GOING TO KEEP IT IN MY FAN FICS, ANYWAY HOPE YOU LIKE A PLZ REVEIW THANKS!**

Pepper walked down the hall. She had to give Tony his paperwork for Stark industries. The red head was about to open the door to his room when she heard soft music coming from inside.

She quietly opened the door to see him laying on his bed with a photo in stif hands. His eyes were red as he stared at it, the low light barely lit up the room enough for Pepper to see Tony's parents on the thin paper.

Not wanting to get involved with one of the rare moments Tony Stark was "human", she tried to exit the room.

"Pepper!"

The red head looked over to see Tony rub his eyes and shove the picture into his drawer.

"Sorry, I just didn't want to-"

"It's fine," The billionaire interrupted, trying to change the subject, "what was it?"

"I just needed you to sign-"

Suddenly a loud banging came from the front of the house.

"What's that?" Pepper said looking to Tony.

He just shrugged then stood, making his way out the door, only to return to grab his gun.

"Stay behind me,"

Pepper nodded, putting down the files.

Slowly creeping up to the door, with a gun in hand, Tony was running all the possibilities through his head.

The repeating pounding was followed by small cries. Tony would have asked JARVIS what it was but something in him told him not to turn on the security alarms. Finally making it to the door, he looked to Pepper and pressed a finger to his lips. He quickly yanked the door open and held up his gun to see the one thing he didn't expect.

A little boy, head to toe with ash. Dirty blond hair everywhere with tears streaming down his face. He seamed so relieved to see Tony. Something seemed familiar about this boy, but only when he spoke did he recognize him.

"Mister Stark!" The boy cried as he wrapped his arms around Tony's waist.

"Kid?" The philanthropist asked astonished.

Pepper had stepped back, very confused. She wanted to ask how Tony knew a kid or who he was but she felt if Tony knew him, and the boy was hurt, whoever hurt him was going to be sorry. And she needed to stay away from this, at least for now.

"Kid, what are you doing here? What happened?" Tony looked down at the sobbing 11 year old.

"I-I...s-she...t-the m-man...I-I c-couldn't..." Harley broke in tears. Burring his head into the billionaire's shirt.

Tony looked up and around outside. Outside was a dark blue sky with cold summer air. He couldn't see anything that looked threatening but he wasn't going to take that chance.

"JARVIS, set security code to 10. I don't want one living thing to get in or out of this building."

"Yes sir."

Slowly picking up the boy, who was on the verge of collapse, Tony pulled him tight as the door shut and bolted.

He pressed the 11 year old against his shoulder. Harley quickly wrapping his arms around his neck and began streaming tears into his soft shirt, obviously needing comfort over something. Tony backed away from the door and ran to the nearest windows, peaking through each one looking for anything hostile. Harley didn't seem to mind all the bouncing from window to window, if anything he just held tighter to the mechanic. Pepper stayed back, not saying a word, just looking pitifully at the half tear drowned boy.

_Thanks Pep, _Tony thought, _I really can't explain everything right now, but I will._

When Tony was sure that nothing was outside, he carried the boy to the couch. He tried to pry the boy from him and set him down but Harley wouldn't let go.

"Harley," The Iron hero whispered into the boy's ear. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong..."

With that the dirty blond loosened his grip and sat on the coffee table. Before asking questions Tony looked him over, making sure he wasn't hurt. When he was sure there was nothing else besides cuts and a few bruises he looked into the boy's wet eyes.

"What happened?"

Harley tried to speak a couple of times, the lump in his throat made if hard to talk with out breaking down. After about 10 minutes of that Tony put his firm hand on the kid's shoulder.

"Take a deep breath, and start from what is making you cry."

Mustering as much oxygen he could, Harley turned his soft blue gaze to the billionaire.

"That m-man...S-Savin...the man that attacked us in T-Tennessee...he's alive."

**PLEASE COMENT, RATE, FAVORITE OR WHATEVER. PLEASE SAY WHAT YOU THINK SHOULD HAPPEN OR WHAT YOU'RE HOPING FOR, THANKS!**


	2. Faults And Tears

**AFTER ALL THE AMAZING COMMENTS I GOT ON MY FIRST CHAPTER I DECIDED IM GOING TO CONTINURE THE STORY! YAY! LOL ANYWAY HOPE YOU LIKE THIS CHAP AND I HOPE IT EXPLAINS ANY QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE, WELL MOST OF IT. ANYWAY IM ALSO HAVEING A VOTE KINDA THING, I CAN'T DECIDE WHEATHER TO MAKE HARLEY'S MOM BE ALIVE OR DEAD, PLZ REVEIW ON WHICH I SHOULD DO! IF ALIVE ILL DO SOME BIG TWIST AND IF DEAD, WELL IDK SHE'D JUST B DEAD, ANYWAY HOPE YOU LIKE AND PLZ REVEIW! LOVE MY REVEIWERS!**

Tony stayed perfectly still. A chill ran down his back as he heard the too familiar name. Clinching his fists and taking shallow breaths, the hero was trying to stay calm, trying to keep himself from running straight down the stairs and suiting up to blast the man a few _more_ times in the stomach. He slowly nodded, letting Harley continue.

The boy took in a long cracked breath before speaking, as if just saying any word would make him break down. Finally he grasped onto the strength and bravery he had when an intruder was in his shed, although this time it wasn't as easy as grabbing his nearest potato gun and running to meet a super hero, no it was much worse.

"M-my mom and I...we had flown out here to say thank you...for saving me and everything else...b-but then..." Harley trailed off for a moment, trying to suck in some more air. "S-salvin...he came into the motel my mom and I were at...h-he broke down the door...he was coming after me when my mom tried to stop him...Slavin gabed her and just threw her arcross the room...I was trapped...Salvin had a bomb with him...he activated it and dropped it in the room then left...I ran to the door just as the explosion happened." Harley wiped up the tears from the corners of his eyes.

"I was thrown into the parking lot..." The ash covered kid continued. "The place was on fire...I was so busy trying to get out I didn't pay attention to my mom, even when she tried to save me..." His head was burried in his hands as he mumbled out the last words. "I could have saved her but I didn't, the I saw Salvin come out and look for me...there was a bunch of light stuff around him, like he was on fire. He started to chase me, I was so scared and I didn't know what to do, so I ran here. We were close by so it wasn't that far but..." Harley looked away from Tony, ashamed. "My mom's gone and it's all my fault."

Tony waited a few seconds to let that soak in before talking, " We don't know if she's dead, she might still be out there."

"You didn't see how big the explosion was, it would have killed anyone in that motel...if I haven't gotten out in time..." Harley shook his head to dismiss the idea of dying.

Tony wasn't really sure what to say, finally he mustered up a question, "Was that the only reason you came to my house, to say thanks?" Tony had to be sure no one was forcing the boy to do anything.

"Yeah...we would have came sooner but my sister hates flying and this was the only week my grandparents could take care of her- oh god, my sister! I completely forgot! She's going to be devastated, how could I do this to her? Now we're going to be all alone and she has to grow up without Mom! Why couldn't I save her!?" The blond screamed up at the sky.

Pepper stood there in utter shock. The boy's story was heart breaking. She wished so hard that she could say or do somthing but this was up to Tony now, he was the only one the kid trusted at the moment.

Tony swore he heard his Arc Reactor crack at this outburst. He actully felt the urge to check it but he had to help Harley. The Billionaire's heart throbbed as he leaned over to wipe the dust and tears from the 11 year old's face. He tossed the messy dirty blond hair out of Harley's eyes to get a better look at the kid.

"Harley, listen to me," Tony was never really good at talking to kids, he didn't know if it was because he was missing his own parents and had been looking through old photos or because Harley reminded him so much of himself, that made it easy to talk. "Whatever happens, no matter what people might say, it wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was..." He mumbled back.

Tony frowned more, "No it wasn't, answer me this, did you phisically kill your mother?"

"No." Harley slowly wiped away another tear.

"Did you tell Salvin to bring in a bomb and blow up the motel?"

"No."

"Ok," Tony replied. "did you ask for you mom to die?"

"No. But-"

"No buts, now did you phisically ignore your mother during the explosion?"

"No..."

"Then there you go." Tony smiled a bittersweet smile. "It wasn't your fault. We still don't know if she's dead."

Harley shook his head. _He looks exaughsted, _the philanthropist thought. _He's been through enough tonight._

"Harley, go down that hall and take a quick shower, tonight you can borrow one of my t-shirts to sleep in."

In less than 15 minutes the boy was out of the shower and wearing a short sleeve black shirt that came down to his knees. Tony had gone to sign Pepper's papers while the Harley was in the shower. Pepper sat in the living room, a PB&J on a small plate with a glass of milk sitting close by on the coffee table.

"Where's Tony?" the kid croaked.

"He's signing some papers, he'll be back in a sec. Harley wasn't it?" The red head smiled brightly up at the boy, sticking out a hand.

Harley slowly shook it and nodded.

"I'm Pepper, here, I made this for you." She quickly scooped up the food and handed it over to the hungry looking child.

The 11 year old hesitentaly took up the sandwich, but after a few bites he dug in. Chugging down the milk and stuffing in the sandwich. When finished he looked back up at Pepper, mouth full of food he said, "Thank you."

"Your very welcome sweetheart."

"Pep,"

The woman jumped at the sudden sound of her name being called. She turned to see Tony stacking the files back into the folder. "Finished."

Smiling she took the folder. She then looked sadly down at Harley who was licking the peanut butter off his fingures.

"What are you going to do about him?" She asked.

"I don't know, for now I'll just keep him safe and protected til I can work somthing out." Tony sighed.

"Well I'm going to turn these in," Pepper gestured to the folder in her hand. "call me if you need help."

"Why would I need help?" He asked, almost sarcastically.

"Are you kidding? Why WOULDN'T you need my help?" Smiling she gave him a quick kiss. "Be careful, don't do anything stupid and take care of him."

"I will."

"Which one?" Pepper raised an eyebrow.

"Being carful and taking care of him."

"What about being stupid?"

"Oh I'm pretty sure you relized that I can never NOT do anything stupid." Tony winked.

Pepper let out a small laugh. " Your right, you can't. But you could try," waving she said, "Bye Harley, bye Tony."

"Bye Peps." The billionaire waved.

Once she was gone, Harley look up at Tony with tiered eyes. "can I go to sleep?"

"We can both go to sleep," He grinned. "Where do you want to sleep?"

"Is it ok if I sleep with you? I mean I'm not scared or anything I just think I't be safer..." Tony could tell that the kid was scarred and that he was begging for a yes, the iron hero remebered trying to pull the same thing on his parents when there was a riot or a murder on the TV.

"Sure thing kid." Tony grinned when he saw Harley smile for the first time since he came over.

The kid was so tiered he plopped right ontop of the bed without a word. Tony shifted his way on the other side as he turned off the lights. He laid there for just a few minutes, starring at the dark ceiling. He was imagining what he was going to do to Salvin next time he saw him when Harley flipped over and snuggled up into his shoulder. The billionaire laid perfectly still, feeling awkward. It stayed that way a little longer til Tony heard a crash from outside and wrapped his arm protectively around Harley. It felt strange, he knew this was defilientally not somthing the press would consider him to do. After a while Tony's eyes started to droop, his body felt weak and the slow soft breathing of Harley didn't help him stay awake. The soft hum of the boy brought Tony to a long dreamless sleep.

**PLEASE COMENT, RATE, FAVORITE OR WHATEVER. PLEASE SAY WHAT YOU THINK SHOULD HAPPEN OR WHAT YOU'RE HOPING FOR, THANKS!**


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